Accountability on Steroids – Part 3

The Wrong (and the Right) Question to Ask

Cathy McCullough, M.S.

Leadership Coach, Speaker, Author

McCullough Leadership Group

5 minute read

Part I and Part II of this series set the stage for where to begin building higher levels of personal accountability. I’ve had feedback on those two blogs from leaders about the importance of accountability and how they’re beginning to see how they can unravel the mystery. Most of these leaders don’t feel like accountability runs deep within their companies. Indeed, “accountability” is a strong term with shallow meaning because the right kind of accountability just isn’t alive and well in most organizations, so many leaders really haven’t ever been exposed to it.

The Wrong (and the Right) Question…

In my experience, I see leaders start this journey by asking the wrong question: How do I get people to do what I need them to do in the way it needs to be done?! 

If you want to build truly high levels of personal accountability, where people take ownership of what they do, then you have to begin by becoming an accountable leader yourself. 

The right question, then, is: First and foremost, how do I build personal accountability in myself?

Building Accountability: Groundhog Day!

We’ve all read (and read and read and read) the studies that continue to repeatedly show us that leadership style isn’t changing much. With all the research from organizations such as Gallup, the Ken Blanchard Companies, Deloitte (to name only a few), we see the needle moving very little on things like employee engagement, trust in leadership, and more. 

Which begs the question: Why? Why is the needle not moving in the right direction? The answer is complex, but one aspect is this: The business world is evolving, yet leaders are still leading the way they’ve always led. Talk about Groundhog Day!

A primary reason for the lack of progress in leadership approach might be that leaders keep looking outward to fix the ‘lack of accountability’ problem…vs looking inward. Another reason might be because leaders know that to shift their leadership approach will require some very deep (and sometimes painful) reflections and…some really hard work.

Scaling an Organization: Moral Authority and Formal Authority

According to Dov Seidman (2021), Founder and Chairman of LRN and The HOW Institute for Society, “Leaders can no longer hope to scale shareholder value without scaling shared values. Mission and margin, profit and principle, success and significance are now inextricably linked.”

To emerge strong from challenging times (which in today’s world is a global pandemic), leaders, now more than ever, need an internal awareness of not just their formal authority but also of their moral authority. While many leaders are probably very ethical, caring, and good at what they do, they simply accept those qualities as mere side notes. It’s like taking someone you deeply love for granted. Many of us take good things for granted every single day. In business (as in life), leaders do so at their own peril. 

Moral vs. Formal Authority: Finding the Courage

Take a minute. Stop; slow down your frantic pace; purposefully guide your own thinking. Focus…on yourself…as a leader. 

Having done Leadership “Advances” (aka “Retreats”), Strategic Planning, Company Culture Diagnostics, Leadership Coaching, Conference Keynotes, etc., over the past 30 years, I’ve been given a front row seat to watch leaders learn and grow incredible organizations. These are the leaders who had the courage to dare themselves to think about their own personal impact. For whatever reason, when my Coaching clients reach out to me they’ve hit a pain-point, or they’ve simply awakened themselves to the fact that they might have a few things to learn. They’ve suddenly realized they want to be more than ‘formal’ leaders; they want to be ‘moral’ leaders.

It’s at this inflection point that the best of leaders begin to think more introspectively. Moral leaders have recognized that it’s hard work to become Accountable Leaders, and they’ve found the courage to do it anyway. 

It’s also interesting to note that 46% of surveyed participants said they would take a pay cut to work for a moral, principled leader (Seidman, 2020). 

So what exactly is ‘moral leadership?’ Moral leaders lead with a strong sense of conviction around the company’s Purpose. They navigate everyday business, as well as all the potholes encountered along the way, by making decisions that are aligned with the company’s overall Purpose by adhering to stated Values that are lived, vs. espoused. In other words, Purpose and Values are operationalized. Purpose and Values are living, breathing components that express expectations, guide decision-making, and more. And the Values become conduits to the company’s overriding Purpose. Moral leaders believe in Purpose and Values as core components of how a business should be run. It’s a part of their very being, and everybody around them knows it. 

Interestingly, only 7 percent of employees described the leaders they work for as living by a strong commitment to Values and Purpose. More than half of respondents said their managers exhibited few or none of the behaviors of moral leadership—and it’s these managers who are “ten times more likely to treat people unfairly, eight times more likely to hoard information, and five times more likely to prioritize short-term results over the long-term mission,” according to the survey data (The State of Moral Leadership in Business, 2019).

According to Seidman, “Only moral authority can build trust, inspire colleagues, create meaning, or help people imagine a different and better future—in other words, enabling them to do the next right things.”

You ask, then: “So how do I hold myself accountable to being more than just a ‘formal’ leader?” Most all leaders I’ve encountered don’t wake up every day asking themselves how they can make the lives of their team members miserable. Most of these leaders truly do care and their intent is positive. The disconnect, though, is how to truly live to that perceived intent.

Keep Moving Forward…

Direct Application – Reflectively ask yourself:

• When I read Seidman’s definition of moral leadership, how am I doing (on a scale of 1-10 with “1” being Low, “5” being Mediocre, and “10” being Outstanding)._______ 
• With that in mind:

• How do I tend to approach my work?
• How do I tend to interact those around me?
• When I interact with others, how does my approach uphold this company’s Core Values?
• As I think back on a tough situation, what did I do well in handling that situation? What would I do differently if I had it to do over?
• In what ways am I feeding the souls of the people who work here? What do I do that injects a sense of energy in them?
• How can I better connect with people in this organization that I don’t regularly see?
• How can I make sure that I’ve created the conditions where everyone can contribute their best?
• To what degree am I ‘human’ at work? What about my persona should I shift just a bit so my impact is magnified?

Sneak Peak: Part IV in this series will share thoughts and ideas on how you can increase the level of your leadership to the next level. I’ll share ideas for where to start, as there’s no magic pill. In the meantime, hold yourself accountable to growing yourself and your own leadership capabilities and master the skills to create an entire culture built on accountability. It all starts…with you.

In the meantime, click here and let me know how you’re doing.